Advanced filters

Search Results

You searched for:  -

There are 317 results  for your search.  View and Refine Your Search Terms

  • Agroforestry and land reform give Brazil cacao farmers sweet taste of success

    February 24, 2021 |

    Mongabay |

    Multi-Media |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Brazil, Ibirapitanga, Bahia

    After there was a fungal disease outbreak in the 1990s that affected cacao crops in Brazil, a group of 150 community members got together to collectively manage a farm to grow back cacao trees using agroforestry techniques. Because of their efforts, they sell their cacao to major chocolate brands and have seen their monthly income more than double.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • How Banana Waste Is Turned Into Rugs, Fabric, And Hair Extensions

    February 19, 2021 |

    Business Insider |

    Video |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: Uganda, Kampala

    A Ugandan company called TEXFAD is taking the stems from banana trees that would normally go to waste and is turning them into new textiles like rugs, place mats, and hair extensions. Over its eight year existence, TEXFAD has grown to also employ 23 people, many of whom started in their internship program for students. While the cost to make these products can be expensive, the textiles are biodegradable and use less water and land to produce.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • Treetop sensors help Indonesia eavesdrop on forests to cut logging

    February 11, 2021 |

    Thomson Reuters Foundation |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Indonesia, Solok, West Sumatra

    In Indonesia, there are 27 “Guardian” sensors eavesdropping on forests as a way to monitor them for cases of illegal logging. The organization Rainforest Connection uses artificial intelligence to analyze the audio from these sensors and if the system picks up the sound of a chainsaw, it sends a mobile alert to community patrols in the area. This technology can be scaled for other parts of the world and habitats. “We're basically building a nervous system for the natural world," says Topher White, founder of the nonprofit.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • Planting Trees Sounds Like A Simple Climate Fix. It's Anything But.

    February 05, 2021 |

    The Huffington Post |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United Kingdom, England

    As governments and businesses make pledges to cut their carbon emissions, planting tress has become a popular solution to combat the effects of climate change. But tree-planting schemes take time and proper management to actually be effective. Many efforts have failed to take some key factors into consideration, including types of trees, location, and even community-involvement.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • Indigenous Elders Are at Risk of Freezing to Death Because Wood Is So Expensive

    January 29, 2021 |

    Slate |

    Text |

    Over 3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Navajo Nation, Arizona

    A collaborative experiment between Indigenous community activists, tribal officials, loggers, nonprofits, and the U.S. Forest Service is delivering firewood to residents who need it for heating and cooking. The program, called Wood for Life, also doubles as a forest management initiative to thin out Arizona’s forests to prevent deadly wildfires. The shuttering of a local coal mine and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated this home heating crisis and group members in 2020 delivered a total of 650 cords of wood to several Indigenous nations.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • One, two, tree: how AI helped find millions of trees in the Sahara

    January 15, 2021 |

    The Guardian |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: Algeria

    Tree mapping helps researchers understand deforestation and climate change, however the technologies used often miss trees that aren’t clustered. Researchers, in collaboration with NASA, used high-resolution satellite images, previously only available to commercial entities, to find a surprisingly large number of trees in the Sahara Desert. Using AI deep learning and one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers at the University of Illinois, they identified more than 1.8 billion trees, manually marking nearly 90,000 so the computer could “learn” which shapes and shadows indicated the presence of trees.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • The bold plan to save Africa's largest forest

    January 07, 2021 |

    BBC |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Democratic Republic of the Congo

    Under an innovative scheme in the Democratic Republic of Congo, indigenous communities are obtaining the legal right to own and manage the forests where they reside. This ownership has shown success in slowing deforestation of the Congo rainforest and creating new economic opportunities for residents in these villages. “Rather than just being an add-on, community forestry is now being considered as a mainstream model for forest management,” says a coordinator for the Rainforest Foundation UK.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • Colombia's sustainable forestry drive boosts biodiversity and business

    December 30, 2020 |

    Mongabay |

    Text |

    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: Colombia, Tarapacá

    The Colombian government has been working with regional regulatory agencies, the World Wildlife Fund, and local forest communities to encourage sustainable timber production and the implementation of forest management plans. They launched the Legal Wood Pact — a commitment with 69 entities to exclusively use wood from legal sources. While it can be difficult to convince people to purchase sustainable timber that’s more expensive, the sales of legal timber in the country increased from $500,000 in 2011 to $13 million in 2018.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • A Bold Plan to Save the Last Whitebark Pines

    December 24, 2020 |

    Wired |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Montana

    After a fungus has nearly wiped out the whitebark pine species in North America, scientists and conservationists are coming together to restore the species. The trees offer food to various animal species and are important to drinking and agricultural water supplies. A pilot project in Montana has planted up to 125 acres each year of whitebark pines, but the restoration process is expensive and time consuming. By combining traditional seed collecting efforts with gene sequencing, scientists hope to make these trees resistant to the fungus.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

  • Prescribed burns and wildfire in Santa Cruz County

    December 21, 2020 |

    Santa Cruz Local |

    Podcast |

    Over 15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Santa Cruz, California

    The number of prescribed burn associations in California is on the rise, advocating for more controlled fires that could prevent larger wildfires. There are at least 13 in the Golden State with the latest being the Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association. Their mission is to help private landowners through the complex process of organizing a prescribed burn and to educate them about the effectiveness and limitations of the technique. So far, they’ve had 125 who are interested in getting involved and they received a grant of more than $300,000 from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

    Read More


    Go to Original Story

Solutions In Focus

Discover curated content about themes that matter to you, exclusively from the Solutions Story Tracker. Explore collections, resources and more.


Go to All Solutions in Focus